Developers at the mixed-use The Downs property in Scarborough broke ground today on a new, $130 million project that, when finished, will become Scarborough’s new downtown.

It will be the first downtown area to be created in an established community in Maine’s history.

The project, expected to be finished by 2025, is the latest in a series of developments on the 600-acre property, which has been abuzz with construction work for the past five years. The property, located in the center of Scarborough, is the former home of Scarborough Downs, the racetrack which held its last harness racing event in 2020.

Rocco “Rocky” Risbara, Scarborough native and co-owner of Risbara Bros. Construction, noted Wednesday that so far, developers have created 560 residential units ranging from market-rate to senior affordable housing.  

Town officials clashed with developers in the spring of 2022, when the town amended local ordinances to cap development to only allow building permits for only 44 new residential units a year.  

The town eventually gave developers a temporary exemption to allow residential construction to continue.

Risbara also noted the creation of over 1 million square feet of commercial space. Notable companies moving into The Downs include Westbrook-based veterinary products developer IDEXX Laboratories, which has opened a 100,000 square-foot location on the property, retail giant Costco, which is planning to build its first location in the state in The Downs, and Allagash Brewing Co., which plans to build a tasting room on the property to complement its existing brewery in Portland.

The downtown project, Risbara said, is the next step in the area’s ongoing work.

“We knew we had the right location for this project, because where we’re standing today is not only the center of the Downs project, but it’s the geographic center of Scarborough,” he said.  

Gov. Janet Mills told the crowd Wednesday that she had visited the former Scarborough Downs racetrack on several occasions in the past, but marveled Wednesday at the development work underway and yet to come.

“People use the word, ‘transformative’ a great deal in talks these days, but I can’t think of anything more transformative than what I’ve seen today,” she said.

Plans for the downtown project include a proper town green surrounded by sidewalks and mixed-use buildings, each with shops and other commercial spaces on the ground level, and housing on two floors above. The units will be of various price points, developers said in a release.

Kristina Egan, executive director of the Greater Portland Council of Governments, noted that GPCOG has set a regional goal of seeing 75% of new homes in the area located near jobs, schools and local services.  

In addition, GPCOG wants to see most new homes be available to people of lower and middle income.

“This project knocks those goals out of the park,” she said.

The town of Scarborough has been wanting a downtown area since the concept was first written into its comprehensive plan in 2006.

Travis Kennedy is chair of the downtown committee, a group of local citizens, business owners and town officials that worked with Risbara and the Downs developers on what the downtown area would look like. On Wednesday, Kennedy recalled the first Zoom call with the developers. 

“I had an expectation that we were there to rubber-stamp something,” he said. 

To his surprise, Kennedy recalled, the developers said just the opposite – that they were there to implement what the committee wanted. He said a year later, everyone had a vision, and the developers were prepared to make it happen.

“We all had the same vision in our minds of what a center of Scarborough would look like and feel like,” he said.

Mills, in remarks after the ceremony, mentioned Kennedy and the committee’s collaborative experience with the developers. 

“What’s amazing, that you heard today, is that instead of the developers going to the town and saying, ‘this is what we’re going to do, or want to do,’ is them going to the town and saying, ‘What would you like us to do?’” she said. “That’s a great turn of events, and I think that’s creative, imaginative, and a successful partnership that makes things like this happen.”